marc said:
Had Rubens got the testing button got over the winter going into 2009 I think he would have been champ tbh.
Button done a good job but once Rubens got up to speed with the new aero package he was the better driver. He was winning races and button was no where to be seen.
Buttons a good driver but he really is nothing special. He's very car reliant.
Bollocks!
I've, quite honestly, had enough of Button bashing - and 2009 is the most misinformed case of it
ever!
So, regarding the 2009 season shall we have a look at cold hard facts? Seems a sensible place to start. Opinions are all well and good, and I might add some of those in later, but let's look at what actually happened with Brawn GP...
Whilst all of the legal stuff was going on in the background, Honda/Brawn missed the first test at Jerez at the end of February, but just about turned up to the first test at Barcelona. This test was 4 days long. Jenson Button drove the car on days 1 and 3, Rubens Barrichello drove the car on days 2 and 4 (Days testing: Button 2, Barrichello 2) . At the third and final test in Jerez, Rubens Barrichello drove the car on day 1. On day 2 Jenson and Rubens shared the duty in the car - it's worth noting here that the car broke whilst Button was driving it, meaning that he only completed 12 laps to Barrichello's 62. On day 3 Button was back at the wheel on the final day of testing (Days testing: Button 3.5, Barrichello 3.5).
So, going into round 1 at Australia, not only had Brawn GP given their drivers an equal and fair share of the testing time that they had available to them, but, if anything, Barrichello had a
slight advantage because he had had a trouble free build up in terms of car reliability.
What I will do next in our analysis of Jenson Button being smashed by Barrichello come the end of the 2009 season is go through the results race by race, giving their positions in relation to each other for each race, as well as where they stood in the championship come the end of each race. I will also mark the position difference between the two drivers, as well as the running competitive score between them. To make it lighter reading Jenson Button will be reduced to
BUT and Rubens Barrichello to
BAR.
Round 1 - Australia
Qualifying: BUT 1, BAR 2 (Button 1 place ahead - BUT 1:0 BAR)
Race: BUT 1, BAR 2 (Button 1 place ahead - BUT 1:0 BAR)
Championship: BUT 10, BAR 8 (Button 2pts ahead)
Round 2 - Malaysia
Qualifying: BUT 1, BAR 4 (Button 3 places ahead - BUT 2:0 BAR)
Race: BUT 1, BAR 5 (Button 4 places ahead - BUT 2:0 BAR)
Championship: BUT 15, BAR 10 (Button 5pts ahead)
Round 3 - China
Qualifying: BUT 5, BAR 4 (Button 1 place behind - BUT 2:1 BAR)
Race: BUT 3, BAR 4 (Button 1 place ahead - BUT 3:0 BAR)
Championship: BUT 21, BAR 15 (Button 6pts ahead)
Round 4 - Bahrain
Qualifying: BUT 4, BAR 6 (Button 2 places ahead - BUT 3:1 BAR)
Race: BUT 1, BAR 5 (Button 4 places ahead - BUT 4:0 BAR)
Championship: BUT 31, BAR 19 (Button 12pts ahead)
Round 5 - Spain
Qualifying: BUT 1, BAR 3 (Button 2 places ahead - BUT 4:1 BAR)
Race: BUT 1, BAR 2 (Button 1 place ahead - BUT 5:0 BAR)
Championship: BUT 41, BAR 27 (Button 14pts ahead)
Round 6 - Monaco
Qualifying: BUT 1, BAR 3 (Button 2 places ahead - BUT 5:1 BAR)
Race: BUT 1, BAR 2 (Button 1 place ahead - BUT 6:0 BAR)
Championship: BUT 51, BAR 35 (Button 16pts ahead)
Round 7 - Turkey
Qualifying: BUT 2, BAR 3 (Button 1 place ahead - BUT 6:1 BAR)
Race: BUT 1, BAR 19[retired] (BUT 7:0 BAR)
Championship: BUT 61, BAR 35 (Button 26pts ahead)
Round 8 - Britain
Qualifying: BUT 6, BAR 2 (Button 4 places behind - BUT 6:2 BAR)
Race: BUT 6, BAR 3 (Button 3 places behind - BUT 7:1 BAR)
Championship: BUT 64, BAR 41 (Button 23pts ahead)
Round 9 - Germany
Qualifying: BUT 3, BAR 2 (Button 1 place behind - BUT 6:3 BAR)
Race: BUT 5, BAR 6 (Button 1 place ahead - BUT 8:1 BAR)
Championship: BUT 68, BAR 44 (Button 24pts ahead)
Round 10 - Hungary
Qualifying: BUT 8, BAR 13 (Button 5 places ahead - BUT 7:3 BAR)
Race: BUT 7, BAR 11 (Button 4 places ahead - BUT 9:1 BAR)
Championship: BUT 70, BAR 44 (Button 26pts ahead)
Round 11 - Europe
Qualifying: BUT 5, BAR 3 (Button 2 places behind - BUT 7:4 BAR)
Race: BUT 7, BAR 1 (Button 6 places behind - BUT 9:2 BAR)
Championship: BUT 72, BAR 54 (Button 18pts ahead)
Round 12 - Belgium
Qualifying: BUT 14, BAR 4 (Button 10 places behind - BUT 7:5 BAR)
Race: BUT 18[retired], BAR 7 (BUT 9:3 BAR)
Championship: BUT 72, BAR 56 (Button 16pts ahead)
Round 13 - Italy
Qualifying: BUT 6, BAR 5 (Button 1 place behind - BUT 7:6 BAR)
Race: BUT 2, BAR 1 (Button 1 place behind - BUT 9:4 BAR)
Championship: BUT 80, BAR 66 (Button 14pts ahead)
Round 14 - Singapore
Qualifying: BUT 11, BAR 9 (Button 2 places behind - BUT 7:7 BAR)
Race: BUT 5, BAR 6 (Button 1 place ahead - BUT 10:4 BAR)
Championship: BUT 84, BAR 69 (Button 15pts ahead)
Round 15 - Japan
Qualifying: BUT 7, BAR 5 (Button 2 places behind - BUT 7:8 BAR)
Race: BUT 8, BAR 7 (Button 1 place behind - BUT 10:5 BAR)
Championship: BUT 85, BAR 71 (Button 14pts ahead)
Round 16 - Brazil
Qualifying: BUT 14, BAR 1 (Button 13 places behind - BUT 7:9 BAR)
Race: BUT 5, BAR 8 (Button 3 places ahead - BUT 11:5 BAR)
Championship: BUT 89, BAR 72 (Button 17pts ahead -
WORLD CHAMPION)
Round 17 - Abu Dhabi
Qualifying: BUT 5, BAR 4 (Button 1 place behind - BUT 7:10 BAR)
Race: BUT 3, BAR 4 (Button 1 place ahead - BUT 12:5 BAR)
Championship: BUT 95, BAR 77 (Button 18pts ahead)
So, come the end of the season, yes Barrichello had outqualified Button 10 races to 7, but we all know that qualifying is not Jenson Button's forte. Come race day, Jenson beat Rubens 12:5 (noting that Barrichello did not at any point beat Button in a race more than twice in a row)!
Another interesting point worth examining, is that (despite common misconception), Jenson Button never held a lead bigger than 26 points and it never dropped lower than 14 points after he became 14 or more points ahead. At no point did he run away with the championship lead, he was always in a position of consistency atop the drivers table.
Yes, Barrichello fared better against him in the latter part of the season, but he never beat him consistently, let alone thrash him, so let's break that down...
Round 1 - Button 1 place ahead
Round 2 - Button 4 places ahead
Round 3 - Button 1 ahead
Round 4 - Button 4 ahead
Round 5 - Button 1 ahead
Round 6 - Button 1 ahead
Round 7 - Barrichello retired (Button won)
Round 8 - Button 3 behind
Round 9 - Button 1 ahead
Round 10 - Button 3 ahead
Round 11 - Button 6 behind
Round 12 - Button retired (Barrichello 7th)
Round 13 - Button 1 behind
Round 14 - Button 1 ahead
Round 15 - Button 1 behind
Round 16 - Button 3 ahead
Round 17 - Button 1 ahead
As you can see, they were very close all season and despite Barrichello having the upper hand in qualifying Button outdrove him in the races to get the points and the world championship. In the last 9 races of the season (1
MORE than half of 17 races) Button scored 27 points and Barrichello 33. So think very carefully before sprouting nonsense that Barrichello was cheated out of the championship and stuffed Button in the second half of the season - because he, quite simply, didn't.